


The Fallout

by fineh



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff and Angst, No established relationship, farkle angst, kinda sorta, space!riarkle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-09
Updated: 2016-09-09
Packaged: 2018-08-14 03:18:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7996651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fineh/pseuds/fineh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Farkle finally apologizes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fallout

**Author's Note:**

> posting for archive purposes

 

Farkle was never wrong. The words  _'I'm sorry'_  didn't slip past his lips often. He wasn't by any means rude, there just wasn't any need for them. Some people thought him arrogant but they would be wrong. He had confidence in his brain. He knew it was the one thing that would never steer him wrong.

Except for moments like these when he found himself at odds with his best friend. He wasn't wrong and he wasn't going to apologize. Not even to said best friend, Riley Matthews. He had started to at first, but he’d been sitting in his room a long time and his willingness had long since disappeared.

It'd been three days since their big fight and his phone sat on his bed, its silence mocking him. The usual stream of texts had ceased leaving him only with a smiley face emoji and a thumbs up. Flopping onto his bed he rubbed his face in an effort to clear his thoughts. It had started as a minor disagreement that had soon escalated into a war. His refusal to compromise the catalyst that set their friendship over the edge.

* * *

 

They were sitting in his room working on a project for their Earth, Space, and Science class. They'd been given the choice of replicating the solar system and presenting it or doing a PowerPoint. Farkle hadn't even had to ask Riley which one she wanted to do, she had almost jumped out of her chair in excitement. After spending the previous day being dragged around Michael's they were almost done.

"Pluto isn't a planet." Farkle reminded Riley gently.

Riley looked up from the styrofoam ball she was painting, her face streaked with orange, her arms splattered with green, blue, and every color in between. "I know."

"We're not putting Pluto on our presentation."

Riley hummed and continued her task.

"Riley," Farkle said a little more sternly, "it's not going on our project."

That caught her attention, Riley laid the planet she'd been working on down, careful to set it on the dry side.

"Why not?" She asked.

"It's not a planet," Farkle stated simply.

"And..." Riley wasn't seeing the problem.

"It's not going on our project. That's final."

Riley disagreed, "It's not final."

"Look, Riley, you might be used to getting mediocre grades but I'm not."

"Wow," Riley set down the blow dryer she'd just picked up. "Really Farkle? Really?"

She grabbed her backpack and began to carelessly toss her things back into it. Immediately he's on his feet chasing after her because she can't leave without him apologizing.

By the time he reaches her she's at the door.

She turns the handle but the door doesn't budge Farkle's hand is on it preventing her from going anywhere.

Out of desperation, Farkle reaches out grabbing her elbow forcing her to face him, the red on his hand mixing with the yellow on her elbow to create orange.

He opens his mouth the apology on the tip of his tongue when he notices she's crying and suddenly Farkle can't speak. He tries again, "Riley—I'm"

She wrenches her arm out of his grasp effectively silencing him, "Shut up Farkle, just shut up!" She yells surprising both of them, they've never raised their voices at each other. "I may be naïve but I'm not stupid." The tears are falling freely now and he's not sure when he started crying too. "And that you of all people would call me mediocre?" She spits the last word out in disgust. "Unbelievable."

Riley swallowed thickly before taking a step back, "You're right.  Pluto isn't a planet just like we're not friends anymore. Have a nice life Farkle."

Farkle staggered, relinquishing his hold on the knob, her words cutting at him.

Without so much a backward glance, she left. Taking his heart with her.

* * *

 

His mom had found him crying, the room around him destroyed. Not a thing had been spared. Nothing except for the little planet he had held clutched in his hand. The smallest planet with the biggest heart.

Unable to help himself he picked his phone up again. Of course, nothing had changed since he had set it down five minutes ago. He was tempted to call Maya but he wasn't in the mood to get his ear chewed off. Sighing he sat up and took another look around his room. The unfinished project still lay in the middle. He debated on whether or not he should actually finish it. Their presentation was due tomorrow and he was pretty sure Riley wasn't coming over anytime soon. Did he really care if he got an F?

Flopping back down he opted instead to watch the constellations dance across his ceiling. Pluto was exceptionally bright tonight, Farkle was almost positive the ball of ice was twinkling just to spite him. He would never understand Riley's fascination with it.

Respect it? Yes.

Understand it? Maybe.

Her voice kept replaying in his head, " _We're not friends anymore..."_

He knew she wasn't joking. Friendship was a sacred thing to Riley, she never joked about friendship. She wasn't one for empty words if she said it she meant it. It was one of his favorite things about her. The question was, could Farkle live without her friendship?

His answer came quickly.

No.

Farkle would stop breathing before he ended his friendship with Riley. Fumbling blindly he searched for something next to his nightstand.

He had a plan. Hopefully, it would be enough.

* * *

 

Riley was already in her stool when Farkle arrived to class on Monday. He felt her tense as he took his place next to her.

"Good morning." He greeted, hoping that the weekend had erased all traces of animosity.

Riley ignored it, instead pushing a bound report across the table to him. "I did the written part, I hope it's up to your standards. I wouldn't want you to get a mediocre grade."

Okay, so maybe a clean slate wasn't an option.

Their science teacher walked in, effectively ending all conversations.

"Ms. Matthews and Mr. Minkus have volunteered to go first."

Farkle felt Riley's gaze as she followed him to the front of the classroom. Their project was on the table covered with a white sheet. They'd agreed that Riley would read the report and Farkle would present the actual diorama. Riley began talking, giving the class their information with just the right amount of enthusiasm and seriousness before motioning to where Farkle stood, "Farkle will present the rest."

Farkle cleared his throat before speaking, "While my partner did an excellent job in presenting our findings she forgot to mention one thing," out of the corner of his eye he saw Riley stiffen. "Pluto is a planet. While others might say it isn't I believe that it is. It's always there when we need it. We might have taken it out of our textbooks, we might have forgotten about it but Pluto hasn't." Farkle tugged on the blanket pulling it off.

The class gasped and Farkle could hear their awed whispers, a few people leaning closer to get a better look. Farkle flipped off the lights, the glow in the dark stars Riley had begged him to buy casting a soft glow across their classmates.

"Pluto will always be there, even when we belittle it. Even when we call it mediocre, even then no matter how angry Pluto gets. Pluto will find it in their heart to forgive stupid scientists, who think they know everything. Even though they don't." During his speech he'd made his way across the room and now came to a stop in front of Riley. She looked up surprised to find Farkle in front of her. He reached for hand and he was thankful when she didn't pull away.

"Will you please forgive me, darling?"

Several heartbeats passed the silence settling heavily on his shoulders. Farkle looked away blinking back tears.

So that was it. He'd lost her forever.

Dropping her hand he trudged back to his stool, alone.  He'd almost reached it when a voice rang out behind him.

"Yes you stupid scientist, I forgive you." Relief flooded over Farkle, in an instant he was picking her up twirling her around the classroom. The sound of her laughter music to his ears. Setting her down he gave her a big kiss smack dab on the lips.

Around them, the class erupted in cheers, along with some wolf whistles courtesy of Zay and Maya.

They broke apart and Farkle felt Riley bury her face into his chest, no doubt hiding her blush.

After quieting the class down Mr. Norton shooed them back to their seats.

"Bay window, bay window right in five hours," Maya whispered as they passed her desk. Farkle rolled his eyes pulling out Riley's stool before settling onto his. For the rest of class period, they sat watching the rest of the presentations. Like Riley had predicted they were the only group, besides Maya and Zay, who had gone through the trouble of painting and arranging their planets. The bell rang and Riley left while Farkle hung back collecting their project. Farkle was debating on the best way to move their project when Mr. Norton approached him.

"Impressive," he complimented.

"Thank you, sir."

"You know I can't give you an A," Mr. Norton said, "I have to deduct points, without Pluto it would've been an A, with Pluto..." He trailed off.

Farkle nodded, "I understand sir, and it's okay."

Mr. Norton clapped him on the back before heading back to his desk.

* * *

 

Farkle was surprised to find Riley waiting for him at his locker.

Seeing as his arms were full he was grateful when she quickly undid the lock for him. Farkle set their project down careful not to damage anything. He was going to put it in his room.

Turning back around he saw she was still waiting for him, "You're going to be late," he pointed out.

Riley shrugged, "I'll have my dad write me a note."

Farkle shifted nervously unsure of what to say next.

"I'm sorry!" He blurted, "I don't think you're stupid, I should never have called you mediocre. You're anything but, and I hope you can forgive me for that."

Riley frowned, "I already did forgive you." Farkle released the breath he'd been holding.

"But—I do have question. If you don't think I'm mediocre, why did you call me that?"

Farkle slid down the wall, motioning for her to do the same. She lay her head on his shoulder and side by side they both sat with their backs against the lockers.

"My dad came home on Friday before you showed up. I guess he had a bad day at Minkus International because he came into my room waving my progress report in my face telling me that he expected more from me than mediocre grades."

"Mediocre grades? You have straight A's!" Farkle could feel Riley's outrage at his father's thoughtlessness.

"If it's not 100% it's not an A. So when you came over and started talking about including Pluto I don't know, I just snapped. You know I don't think you're stupid. Plus you have straight A's prove it."

"How do you know I have straight A's? I've never shown you my progress reports."

"I may have hacked into the system and checked." He confessed.

"Farkle Minkus!"

"I just wanted to see who was winning," Farkle explained.

Riley nudged his shoulder playfully, "And?"

"I'm not telling you."

"I'm winning aren't I?"

"Yeah," Farkle grumbled.

Riley smiled smugly resting her head on his shoulder again.

They settled back into a comfortable silence both of them knowing that if a teacher found them like this they'd probably get detention. Skipping class to talk to your friend was a no no.

"Riley?"

"Yes, Farkle?"

"We're still friends right?" He inquired sounding a little unsure.

"Best friends."

"Always?"

"Always."

"Riley?"

"Yeah?" Her voice was tinged with amusement.

"Where do we go from here?"

Their relationship could very well end in disaster.

Her answer was simple. "Wherever we want it to go."

"Smoothie after school?" He asked.

Riley nodded, "I'd like that."

Smiling they sealed the deal with a kiss.

 

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [tumblr](http://finehs.tumblr.com)


End file.
